Outside's Go Magazine - Travel and Style for Men

Photo courtesy Bonny Doon Vineyard

I'll admit to a blatant bit of blind consumerism right off the bat. The first time I tasted a wine from Bonny Doon I was cruising the aisles of Astor Place Wines. It must have been in the early nineties and I was feeling flush that day with a big freelance writing check stuffed into my pocket. In the California section, I spied a wine with a curious label. It showed a vineyard with an alien spaceship hoving over it. On the back label, I read that in 1954 in the Chateneuf du Pape, vineyard workers reported seeing a UFO shaped like a huge flying cigar. Thus, the name of the wine, was Le Cigare Volant. I thought to myself, 'Finally, a winemaker with a sense of humor. I bought two on the spot, not even bothering to ask the opinion of one of the shop's wine experts ... so sure was I that even if the wine tasted like it was grape juice fermented in a bathtub, I'd enjoy the experience of drinking a wine from someone with a clearly demented joie de vivre.

So, it was with considerable surprise and delight that I discovered what a great winemaker was Randall Grahm, Bonny Doon's founder and chief evil scientist. The Cigare was light, but complex, with lots of great berry and fruit. I went out and got a case.

In the years since, I've continued to buy Bonny Doon on a regular basis ... perhaps not always able to afford a case of Le Cigare every year ... but always some to dig up enough scratch when I came across one of Grahm's (usually) wackily named wines.

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Alligator O ring belts.
Photo courtesy Martin Dingman

One of the joys of editing a magazine dedicated to travel and style (other than, obviously, some of the choice trips which come our way) is to take stock of men's fashion and pick through the rag pile, so to speak, and see what fits our reader.

When we started Go, I came up with a prototype outfit which I thought was right for our guy: A pair of Carhart trousers, maybe an Eddie Bauer turtleneck sweater, a silk and wool Zegna blazer and belt and ankle high boots by Martin Dingman. The idea was American country gentleman--nothing too fancy, just high quality, comfortable clothing that showed taste without ostentation.

So, to say the least, I didn't have too worry about spending any time checking out the skinny, twentysomething runway fashions. They're about as appropriate for our guys as a Laura Ashley wedding dress.

Recently, I received a press release from the Dingman company promoting his vintage alligator O ring belts. On the average I get about 150 press releases and product pitches per day. I have the fastest delete finger in the West. But, man, when I took a gander at this belt, all I could do is mutter in awe, 'Wicked!' and immediatley hit the save keys.

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Photo courtesy Triumph Motorcycles

In our summer digital edition we featured the 2009 Triumph Bonneville in honor of its fiftieth birthday. Named after the Bonneville Salt Flats where test rider Johnny Allen was setting speed records in the late 1950s, we loved the Bonneville for maintaining its classic style while updating its technology. Its 865 cc engine combined with disc brakes and fuel injection made it by far Go's favorite ride for 2009.

Now, Triumph has teamed with Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer to honor the late legendary actor and motorcycle enthusiast Steve McQueen with the introduction of a Bonneville-Heuer motorcycle. As we detailed in our summer digital story, McQueen was extremely fond of Triumphs, having collected them for years, raced them, and even had one made up like a German military motorcycle for his race to the Swiss border in the Great Escape.

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Last Sunday, the Society of American Travel Writers at their annual conference in Guadalajara, Mexico announced the 2009 winners of their prestigous competition. For the second year in a row, Go succeeded in snagging one of the trophies.

Sara Blask, a writer based in New York, won a silver medal for her short piece, The Man Who Cried Fowl, about the master of the roast goose, Ho Tong Fung, and his venerable restaurant in Hong Kong, Yung Kee. Sara did a great job on the piece, from describing Fung's mastery of his art (33 years of roasting, carving and serving out some 300-500 geese daily) to relaying the subtle flavors that Fung and his staff impart to each bird. Not only is it a strongly reported piece, but Blask is able to pull off the not easily accomplished feat of injecting a bit of first person narrative into the piece while still making sure the spotlight shines on her subjects.

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Too late I found out that the first annual Denver Beer Fest started today (9-18). The ten day celebration of all things yeasty and sudsy is the largest gathering of American beers in history and the three day Great American Beer Festival (September 24-26) will feature some 1900 tap beers on offer and 400 bottled beers.

I say that I found out too late because the press release I received today also informed me that all 46,000 tickets to the GABF have been sold out for weeks. Evidently, Denver Tourism publicists hope that myself and to whomever else they are disseminating this information will be moron or loser enough to drop whatever we're doing and fly or drive to the Mile High City so that we can stand outside the gates and watch 46,000 people sample all the beers to which we are barred by lack of a ticket. Good Times!!!

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©iStockphoto.com/Pitton

At least once or twice a year a big coffee table sized book on Palm Springs lands on my desk for review. Sometimes these books concern the unique architecture of the resort town while others focus on its celebrity past. Sometimes they're a combination of the two. Rarely haven't any impressed.

Recently, however, a new book by Peter Moruzzi, 'Palm Springs Holiday—A Vintage Tour from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea', came my way. I tossed it in the 'to read someday—maybe' pile and forgot about it. The other day, I picked it up and found myself delighted with it. Totally without pretension, the book cleverly and whimsically takes a look at the history, development and golden age of Palm Springs and its neighbors through vintage photographer, illustrations and artifacts. The author's text—if it can be called that—is a couple dozen funny lines here and there along with extended captions.

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